Freedom Song: Young Voices and the Struggle for Civil Rights
Introduction THE MOVEMENT THE MUSIC AND THE CHICAGO CHILDREN S CHOIR magine yourself back in the 1950s A loaf of bread cost 14 cents Color television was new and excit ing Barbie dolls appeared for the first time Popular fads included hula hoops coonskin caps and Silly Putty Elvis Presley recorded hit songs including Heartbreak Hotel and Hound Dog Dwight D Eisenhower was president The United States fought a war in Korea that ended in 1953 Most people in the United States were afraid of Russia and its com munist government In theory the communist sys tem held that the government should directly control all industry and share its economic benefits equally with all people but in practice the Russian govern ment was repressive toward its own citizens and hos tile to the United States Many people feared change of any kind but change of all kinds was happening In the South segregation was the law Segregation laws separated black and white people In 1954 the U S Supreme Court said that school segregation the separation of people because of race or skin color violated the U S Con
stitution A movement for civil rights was growing The civil rights movement found its greatest challenges and opportunities in the segregated southern United States From water fountains to movie theaters laws ordered separation of black people and white people Signs reserved the best places for whites only Many restaurants would not serve black people at all COLORED This drinking fountain shows the separation of black and white people in the South before the civil rights movement Black peo ple and white people were not even allowed to drink from the same fountains John Vachon 1938 courtesy of the Library of Congress On December 1 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery Alabama She was charged with the crime of refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man Rosa Parks worked as a seamstress She was also a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NAACP a civil rights organization Rosa Parks was ready to fight
back Immediately local black university women and the NAACP began to organize They called for mass protest meetings By December 5 black residents of Montgomery had agreed to boycott the bus system meaning that they would refuse to ride the city’s buses at all until the unfair treatment ended The leaders of the bus boycott included many local ministers including the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr and the campaign started with meetings in the churches People at the meetings sang as a way of praying They sang to express their deepest feelings In the songs they connected with one another Their passion and commitment to the movement and to one another grew through the singing And just about one year after the boycott began they won segregation on Montgomery buses ended Back in 1956 as the bus boycott was nearing victory in Alabama a new minister came to the First Unitarian Church in Chicago His name was Chris Moore He was young and energetic He was a musician And he was also filled with the spirit of the civil rights move ment He believed deeply in the equality of all people and in the need to work for justice Chris Moore started a children's choir Chicago is a northern city so it did not have strict segregation laws like those in the South But Moore understood that this did not mean the city was inte grated Far from it Segregation in the South was enforced by law Segregation in the North was
enforced by simple racism In Chicago black people and white people lived in different neighborhoods Real estate agents would not sell homes in white neighborhoods to black families If a black family managed to buy a home in a white neighborhood they faced violence They might be shunned by their neighbors or even attacked on the street Their home could be vandal ized or worse Because housing was segregated schools were segregated too Schools in black neigh borhoods were for black children Schools in white neighborhoods were for white children Chris Moore however believed in integration in bringing people of different races together instead of separating them His mother had been involved in Unitarian service work on Navajo reservations and in Nigeria At First Unitarian Moore found a church with the same commitment Back in 1948 First Uni tarian had passed a resolution to invite our friends of other races and colors who are interested in Uni tarianism to join our church The First Unitarian Church was in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood Hyde Park is located in the part of Chicago called the South Side The University of Chicago is in Hyde Park Many professors and stu dents live there Hyde Park is an integrated neighbor hood It is a well to do neighborhood Poorer neighborhoods surround Hyde Park Woodlawn Kenwood Washington Park Englewood and Oak
